Cereal grains form a major source of dietary nutrients for all people, particularly those in the developing countries. However, the nutritional quality of cereal grains and sensory properties of their products are inferior due to lower protein content, deficiency of certain essential amino acids, lower protein and starch availabilities, presence of certain antinutrients, and the coarse nature of the grains. The consumption of sprouted cereals is becoming popular in various parts of the world. Sprouting of grains for a limited period causes increased activities of hydrolytic enzymes, improvement in the contents of certain essential amino acids, total sugars, and B-group vitamins, and a decrease in dry matter, starch, and antinutrients. The digestibilities of storage proteins and starch are improved due to their partial hydrolysis during sprouting. The magnitude of the nutritional improvement is, however, influenced by the type of cereal, seed quality, sprouting conditions, and it is not large enough to account for in feeding experiments with higher animals. In this review, the available literature concerning the nutritional improvement of cereals by sprouting and utilization of sprouted cereals in traditional and processed foods has been compiled and is critically reviewed.
Cereal grains form a major source of dietary nutrients for all people, particularly those in the developing countries. However, compared with animal foods, nutritional quality of cereal grains is inferior due to lower protein content, deficiency of certain essential amino acids, lower protein and starch availabilities, and the presence of some antinutritional factors. Fermentation of cereals for a limited period of time improves amino acid composition and vitamin content, increases protein and starch availabilities, and lowers the levels of antinutrients. In this review, the available literature concerning the nutritional improvement of cereals by fermentation has been compiled and is critically analyzed. The traditional foods prepared by fermentation of cereals in different parts of the world are briefly described and future research needs to improve their nutritional contribution are addressed.
Polyphenols in cereals and legumes have been receiving considerable attention largely because of their adverse influence on color, flavor, and nutritional quality. These compounds belong to the flavonoid and tannin groups and are mostly located in the seed coat or pericarp of the grains. The pearl millet flavonoids have been identified as C-glycosylflavones by the combined use of paper chromatography and UV spectroscopy. Although nontoxic, physiological and nutritional significance of these compounds occurring in high amounts in the pearl millet grain are still not clearly understood. In view of aesthetic quality, bleaching of the millet grains in acidic solution is recommended. A large proportion of current assays involves spectrophotometry of tannin or its chromogen and tannin-protein interaction. Sorghum and legume tannins have been characterized as condensed tannins. Several factors such as plant type, age of the plant or plant parts, stage of development, and environmental conditions govern the polyphenol contents in plants. Polyphenols are known to interact with proteins and form tannin-protein complexes leading to either inactivation of enzymes or making proteins insoluble. These are implicated in decreasing the activities of digestive enzymes, protein and amino acid availabilities, mineral uptake, vitamin metabolism, and depression of growth. Polyphenols are known to cause certain ultrastructural changes in the different parts of experimental animals. A correlation between dietary tannins and occurrence of esophageal cancer has been established. Bird resistance and seed germination in food crops have been correlated to high contents of polyphenols. The antinutritional activity of polyphenols can be reduced by removing polyphenols from the grains by chemical treatments or removing pericarp and testa by pearling. Treatment of alkaline reagents and ammonia can remove 90% of the polyphenols. Supplementation of polyphenols-rich diet with protein can alleviate the growth-depressing effect of polyphenols.
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